City Manager

Easton should change its form of government so it can rely less on the mayor and the property tax. That's the major recommendation of a financial study presented before about 100 residents and city employees at a City Council meeting Wednesday in the Two Rivers Landing auditorium. Many other suggestions came out of the study commissioned under the state's Early Intervention Program, which paid for half of the $100,000 in consultant fees. The recommendations include closing Eddyside Park swimming pool, using outside vendors to maintain city vehicles and commissioning a study on fire response times to determine whether the fire station on College Hill can be closed.

A career municipal official with experience in four states became Easton's new top administrator Wednesday night. W. Glenn Steckman III, of Salisbury, Md., was appointed to Easton's new, $90,000-per-year city administrator job in a unanimous City Council vote. "It is a very distinct honor to be chosen as your first city administrator," Steckman said, thanking the council and Mayor Sal Panto Jr. for their support. "There is an energy and vibrance about this community. ... I look forward to working with everybody."

Bethlehem Township's manager is the top candidate for the city manager's job in Rockland, Maine -- Lobster Capital of the World, according to the search committee there. Thomas J. Hall, who has worked in Bethlehem Township as manager since 1994, said he has interviewed in Maine. He also said he has not received an offer and doesn't know what his answer will be if he gets one. From a field of 50 candidates, Hall emerged as the number one candidate. Members of the search committee in Rockland were conducting reference and background checks this week.

Easton City Council approved a number of amendments to the 2008 budget Wednesday and pushed back a final vote on the spending plan until Dec. 31. The approved changes include adding two more police officers, and denying a request for a second deputy fire chief, who would conduct fire inspections. City Council said there is not enough money to fund the second deputy fire chief position in light of the city's other needs. The two new police officers, who would not enter the academy until the summer, would increase permissible staffing levels to 60 police officers.

Hellertown's first borough manager, now city manager of Williamsburg, Va., joined members of the Hellertown Historical Society last night to celebrate the 113th anniversary of the incorporation of the borough. Frank Force, who was sworn in as Hellertown's first borough manager on Sept. 16, 1959, was speaker at the society's annual birthday dinner in the Hellertown American Legion Post 397. He talked about his three years of service with the borough and reminisced about the councilmen with whom he worked.

Every time I write a check to the tax office, a few teardrops fall. But, rather than live in a cave with Osama, I prefer Allentown, with all the services it provides. I disagree with those who call for a change of our form of government from strong mayor to a city manager style. That a city manager is the answer is pie in the sky thinking. When Lehigh County raised the tax rate by 70 percent, I heard a lot of groans, but no call to change the form of management. Checking my records, I find that my city tax for the last 14 years increased by about $32 per year.

The mayors of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh certainly have more fame and stature, but the next mayor of Easton may be the state's most powerful under the new city charter set to take effect on Jan. 1. When Sal Panto Jr. takes office, he will become the only elected official in Pennsylvania to simultaneously hold the offices of mayor and council president. That will make him both chief executive officer and chief legislator, an arrangement that breaks down the traditional separation of powers and provides substantial influence over the direction of the city, according to experts in state and local government.

Ronald G. Peck, 64, of 127 E. Catawissa St., Nesquehoning, died Thursday, Feb. 5, at home. He was the husband of Mildred (Bowers) Peck. He was last employed as a city manager at Dobb's House Steak & Eggs, Jenkintown. Born in Philadelphia, he was a son of the late George W. and Bertha (Barnett) Peck. A Navy veteran of the Korean War, he served on the USS Missouri and was a member of Nesquehoning Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8008. Survivors: Wife; son, Ronald G. of Lansford; daughters, Linda, wife of Michael Trymbiski of Warrington, Bucks County, Barbara, wife of John Clauss of Elkins Park, Montgomery County, and Lisa, wife of Christopher Martin of Summit Hill; sister, Betty White of Houma, La., and 12 grandchildren.

About 200 students from the Bethlehem Area School District participated yesterday at Liberty High School in the Special Olympics. Two runners, above, give it all they've got. In top right photo, Susan Totti (left), Catherine Ziegler and Michelle Mace hug one another. And, at right, volunteer Anna Marie Hassay assists Steven Young in a crawl event. In 18 tests of physical skills, from running to wheelchair races, kids were cheered on by various school district personnel, along with six volunteers from Meridian Bank.

Howard Kunik, Allentown's director of finance and administration, resigned yesterday to become financial director of Cape Coral, Fla. Kunik, whose resignation is effective May 25, will be the third Allentown financial administrator in eight months to resign. In a letter to Mayor Joseph Daddona, Kunik said the new position offers him an opportunity to manage the budget and finances of Cape Coral, a Gulf Coast city which is about two-thirds the size of Allentown but experiencing extensive growth and an expanding economy.

The mayors of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh certainly have more fame and stature, but the next mayor of Easton may be the state's most powerful under the new city charter set to take effect on Jan. 1. When Sal Panto Jr. takes office, he will become the only elected official in Pennsylvania to simultaneously hold the offices of mayor and council president. That will make him both chief executive officer and chief legislator, an arrangement that breaks down the traditional separation of powers and provides substantial influence over the direction of the city, according to experts in state and local government.

Mrs. Elaine A. Barnako, 86, of Kirkland Village Circle, Bethlehem, Pa. died Saturday, June 2 in St. Lukes Hospital, Fountain Hill, Pa. She was the wife of Frank R. Barnako. Born in Chicago, Ill., she was the daughter of the late John L. and Helen (McElroy) Harrison. While attending the St. Lukes Hospital School of Nursing in 1941, she married Dr. Francis Franklin Meilicke, a surgeon. After graduation, she was a nursing instructor at Drexel University during World War II. He joined the military and was stationed in the Philippines.

Bethlehem announced the receipt of a state grant worth $150,000 on Thursday that will enable the city to hire a full-time manager to lead redevelopment in the mostly residential neighborhoods north and west of the downtown historic district. The grant denotes the official recognition of a state-designated Elm Street district in Bethlehem, something city officials and neighborhood volunteers have been working toward for more than two years. The city plans to advertise immediately and hopes to hire an Elm Street manager by the first quarter of 2007, said Darlene Heller, the city's planning director.

The few Easton voters who made it to the polls Tuesday agreed the city should look at changing its form of government so residents can have more control over operations and taxes. According to unofficial results from nine of the 15 precincts, voters in the primary election approved creating a Home Rule Charter Study Commission by a nearly 4-to-1 margin with a vote of 623 to 168. Along with approving the ballot question to form an 11-member study commission, voters elected its members from among 19 candidates.

Easton should change its form of government so it can rely less on the mayor and the property tax. That's the major recommendation of a financial study presented before about 100 residents and city employees at a City Council meeting Wednesday in the Two Rivers Landing auditorium. Many other suggestions came out of the study commissioned under the state's Early Intervention Program, which paid for half of the $100,000 in consultant fees. The recommendations include closing Eddyside Park swimming pool, using outside vendors to maintain city vehicles and commissioning a study on fire response times to determine whether the fire station on College Hill can be closed.

A crescendo of complaints -- Democrats and Republicans, Katrina victims and the public at large -- finally convinced Michael Brown to resign Monday as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An investigation of his resume by Time magazine, published online Thursday, also figured into Mr. Brown's decision to resign "because he had become a distraction." Mr. Brown became director of FEMA in 2003, replacing Joe M. Allbaugh, formerly a Bush campaign adviser and a college friend.

A civic group called on Allentown City Council on Thursday to override the mayor's veto of a ballot initiative to change the city's form of government. Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach rejected a bill that would allow voters to decide in November whether to keep the current strong-mayor government or have a council-hired city manager who would assume key duties. One reason he cited was the opinion by assistant city solicitor Chuck Burianek that said the ballot question is illegal because it calls for such a sweeping change without an elected charter study commission being convened first.

A crescendo of complaints -- Democrats and Republicans, Katrina victims and the public at large -- finally convinced Michael Brown to resign Monday as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An investigation of his resume by Time magazine, published online Thursday, also figured into Mr. Brown's decision to resign "because he had become a distraction." Mr. Brown became director of FEMA in 2003, replacing Joe M. Allbaugh, formerly a Bush campaign adviser and a college friend.

Every time I write a check to the tax office, a few teardrops fall. But, rather than live in a cave with Osama, I prefer Allentown, with all the services it provides. I disagree with those who call for a change of our form of government from strong mayor to a city manager style. That a city manager is the answer is pie in the sky thinking. When Lehigh County raised the tax rate by 70 percent, I heard a lot of groans, but no call to change the form of management. Checking my records, I find that my city tax for the last 14 years increased by about $32 per year.

By Pamela Varkony Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | August 3, 2005

If you stand in the field of public service long enough, eventually the horse of history gallops by and you have to decide whether to saddle up or step aside. If you put your ear to the ground in Allentown, right now, you might just hear the hoof beats, as a decisive moment in the city's political history approaches. On July 20, City Council, by a vote of 4-2, Councilman Martin Velazquez being absent, passed Bill 17, allowing the question of whether to change the city's form of government from a "strong mayor" to a "council-manager" system to be placed on the November ballot.